Mayor Luis Navarro Square
The current Paseo Alcalde Luis Navarro was built in 1932 over a stream commonly known as “Venecia,” which was a sewer for toilets, washing, and watering troughs, and a great source of infection and lack of sanitation for the population.
To solve the problems in this area, a water collection system was built to separate the water used to irrigate the vegetable gardens from the water used for domestic purposes, in addition to a public washing place with individual basins, a public bath located to the right of the old Venecia Inn, a drinking water fountain called “Fountain of Democracy” and a promenade planted with palm trees.
The objective of this and other municipal works was to fight the unemployment of a large part of the population, known at the time as “the workers’ problem,” which is why during Luis Navarro’s term as mayor a large number of projects were carried out in the municipality.
The “Fountain of Democracy” had an inscription that was destroyed when Franco’s troops arrived in August 1936. In July 2021, local researcher Manuel Pablos managed to transcribe the damaged inscription, which reads as follows:
“FOUNTAIN OF DEMOCRACY. THE FOUNTAIN, THE WALK AND THE LAYOUT OF THIS STREET IS DUE TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE PEOPLE AND THE REPUBLICAN CITY COUNCIL UNDER MAYOR LUIS NAVARRO 1932.”
The current Paseo Alcalde Luis Navarro was built in 1932 over a stream commonly known as “Venecia,” which was a sewer for toilets, washing, and watering troughs, and a great source of infection and lack of sanitation for the population.
To solve the problems in this area, a water collection system was built to separate the water used to irrigate the vegetable gardens from the water used for domestic purposes, in addition to a public washing place with individual basins, a public bath located to the right of the old Venecia Inn, a drinking water fountain called “Fountain of Democracy” and a promenade planted with palm trees.
The objective of this and other municipal works was to fight the unemployment of a large part of the population, known at the time as “the workers’ problem,” which is why during Luis Navarro’s term as mayor a large number of projects were carried out in the municipality.
The “Fountain of Democracy” had an inscription that was destroyed when Franco’s troops arrived in August 1936. In July 2021, local researcher Manuel Pablos managed to transcribe the damaged inscription, which reads as follows:
“FOUNTAIN OF DEMOCRACY. THE FOUNTAIN, THE WALK AND THE LAYOUT OF THIS STREET IS DUE TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE PEOPLE AND THE REPUBLICAN CITY COUNCIL UNDER MAYOR LUIS NAVARRO 1932.”
